HISTORY

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Camp Guyasuta is owned and operated by the Laurel Highlands Council - Boy Scouts of America. The camp dates back to 1918 when it was donated by Mrs. Darlington, the great granddaughter of General O'Hara. Annually 20,000 scouts, school groups and non-profit organizations from Southwestern Pennsylvania region use the camp. This beautiful property consist of 175 acres located in O'Hara Township and Sharpsburg and has close ties with Aspinwall Boro. Our facility includes McGinnis Education Center provided by a generous donation by Gerry and Audrey McGinnis. This full service conference center building includes a dorm facility with a capacity of 120. The highlight of McGinnis Education Center is that it was built as an environmentally friendly facility and has received a silver rating by the Green Building Council. "Learning from our Building" is a theme that runs throughout the conference center" using attractive signage in key areas showing the benefits of "green construction". Camp Guyasuta also has four other buildings, six program shelters, campfire arena, swimming pool with spray ground, basketball court, volleyball court, 1/2 mile handicap accessible nature trail complete with signs about the history, flora, fauna, animals and geology. Our Rohr Challenge Center teaches both youth and adults team work, conflict resolution, problem solving, leadership, self esteem building, trust and learning about each other. Our challenge course has been used by many youth agencies to learn to work together. The high ropes course also has a 50' climbing and rappelling tower. Our Challenge Course and Climbing Tower are handicap accessible. We had 4000 participants on the course last year; many were "at risk youth". Our swimming pool is open to the public and is used by many organizations that can't afford to take their kids swimming anywhere else. This past summer the pool served 3,000 kids that would have had no other place to swim. The camp also offers other programs including a canoe & cycle program. Participants canoe from Sharpsburg to either Millvale or PNC Park then they Mt. bike back to Camp Guyasuta using the riverfront trail. The stream that runs through the camp is called Guyasuta Run it was declared a "clean water stream" by the federal government in the 1980's. This is one of two in Allegheny County with this declaration, the water is very pure and home to some endangered salamanders and invertebrates. The tributaries that run into the stream have several waterfalls, which display the rock structures of Ames limestone. Through out the camp you will see a variety of wildlife and birds. While hiking through the camp you get the experience of being in the wilderness while being only a few miles from downtown Pittsburgh. There are many nearby attractions including Pittsburgh Zoo, Carnegie Science Center, PNC Park, Heinz Field, and Carnegie Museums. Only 1/4 mile from the camp is a bus stop for the Allegheny County Port Authority where you can take a bus to any of these Pittsburgh attractions.